The Russian Roulette draft | Final - Return of the King..

[VC the slogger]

I suppose this is another version of an RNG draft, or not seeing as I had already run a league based on the same concept using a similar title way back in 2020 that I wasn't able to finish due to my hectic schedule juggling work, personal life and being something of a fitness freak. So here it is, The Russian Roulette draft where you don't get to pick anything except a pair of numbers that will ultimately determine which player you will get should you be so lucky or unlucky. There is every chance you might end up with a player like this or this, so I guess this isn't a draft for someone who takes being the best too seriously. The draft will be in the ODI format, with 11 rounds of selecting players and this is how the players shall be selected:

1) I go to statsguru and set the criteria as all players to have played an ODI since the very first in 1971 till the present day. A total of 113 pages appeared as of now with 25 results per page and players sorted alphebetically. Each page generally has more than one batter, batting all-rounder, all-rounder, wicket-keeper, pace bowler and spin bowler to choose from. From there I simply provide you with your picks based on the page number I secretly generate via random.org, and a pair of numbers that you are meant to be sending me.
2) Players are sorted into six different categories:

1 - Specialist batter (a player whose primary role is batting and generally someone who never bowled much or at all in their career; eg Virat Kohli, Jonathan Trott)
2 - Batting AR (a player whose primary role is batting, but also possesses additional disciplines in his game such as bowling or being able to keep wickets part-time; eg Sachin Tendulkar, Viv Richards, AB de Villiers)
3 - Pace bowler - (a player whose primary role is bowling, but whose batting ability can be anything from a total rabbit to a plucky tailender to even a bowling all-rounder; eg Brett Lee, Jimmy Anderson, Glenn McGrath)
4 - Spin bowler - (a player whose primary role is bowling, but whose batting ability can be anything from a total rabbit to a plucky tailender to even a bowling all-rounder; eg Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Adil Rashid)
5 - All-rounder - (a player who can hold his place in the team for both disciplines; bowling all-rounders pushing the borderline may also be included as per my judgement; eg Ben Stokes, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Chris Woakes)
6 - Wicket-keeper - (a player whose primary role is keeping wickets for his team regularly, and whose batting can range anywhere from being world class to downright non existent; eg Adam Gilchrist, MS Dhoni, Anil Dalpat)

As you might expect the first number you need to send me is between 1 to 6 for the above to determine the category of player you want to recieve for a particular round.

3) The second number you will send must be anything between 1 to 6 as well to determine who you actually get from a particular page considering the number of choices present which can be anything ranging from 1 to 6 to even 13.. but I will only consider the first six present that are still available in descending order. If I'm unable to find a player of your chosen category on a page or if the player is already picked, I'll simply generate another page to select from using random.org
4) So this is how it works basically, for instance you send me the numbers 1 and 3 via PM, I secretly generate the page 14 using random.org.. so the player you'll be getting shall be Darren Bravo (the choices being Geoff Boycott, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo and Mike Brearley in that order for specialist batsmen on that particular page). You may bat a player wherever you wish in your lineup but ought to preferably in one of their favored positions in the XI.

That sounds simple enough I suppose with little or no workload on your part except sending me a pair of numbers via PM every round. Are y'all game?


Round 1

@Fenil - Neil Fairbrother (PG 29; 1, 3)
@pillowprocter - Khaled Mahmud (PG 50; 5, 2)
@Neo 7 - Odean Smith (PG 94; 5, 4)
@ddrap14 - Shaun Pollock (PG 77; 5, 3)
@CerealKiller - Richard Reid (PG 83; 1, 1)
@Ed Smith - Johan Botha (PG 13; 4, 5)
@ahmedleo414 - Gary Kidd (PG 50; 4, 1)
@RUDI - Craig Kieswetter (PG 50; 6, 4)
@Till Valhalla - Luuk van Troost (PG 104; 2, 2)
@Aravind. - Roland Butcher (PG 16; 1, 3)
@mohsin7827 - Bas de Leede (PG 23; 5, 4)
@Verified Enigma - Kris Srikkanth (PG 96; 2, 2)
@Umair7 - Kirk Edwards (PG 27; 1, 5)
@Aislabie - Mohammad Shahzad (PG 90; 6, 3)
@VC the slogger - Abdul Jabbar (PG 1; 1, 2)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Sachin Tendulkar (PG 100; 2, 2)


Round 2

@Fenil - Dav Whatmore Sam Curran (PG 21; 5, 4)
@pillowprocter - Rishabh Pant (PG 74; 6, 1)
@Neo 7 - Wasim Jaffer (PG 44; 1, 3)
@ddrap14 - Mike Brearley (PG 14; 1, 4)
@CerealKiller - Clive Lloyd (PG 55; 2, 2)
@Ed Smith - Bandula Warnapura (PG 107; 2, 2)
@ahmedleo414 - Neil Broom (PG 15; 1, 4)
@RUDI - Geoff Miller (PG 62; 4, 6)
@Till Valhalla - Mushfiqur Rahim (PG 68; 6, 2)
@Aravind. - Kumar Sangakkara (PG 88; 6, 1)
@mohsin7827 - Marcus Trescothick (PG 102; 1, 1)
@Verified Enigma - Najibullah Zadran (PG 69; 1, 5)
@Umair7 - Quinton de Kock (PG 23; 6, 4)
@Aislabie - Krunal Pandya (PG 74; 5, 3)
@VC the slogger - Nixon McLean (PG 57; 3, 4)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Atul Wassan (PG 107; 3, 5)


Round 3

@Fenil - Neil Johnson (PG 46; 5, 2)
@pillowprocter - Lewis Gregory (PG 35; 5, 3)
@Neo 7 - Washington Sundar (PG 107; 3, 4)
@ddrap14 - Peter Kirsten (PG 51; 1, 3)
@CerealKiller - Henry Olonga (PG 73; 3, 3)
@Ed Smith - Kyle Verreynne (PG 105; 6, 4)
@ahmedleo414 - Shikhar Dhawan (PG 25; 1, 1)
@RUDI - Kapil Dev (PG 48; 5, 3)
@Till Valhalla - Wayne Daniel (PG 22; 3, 3)
@Aravind. - Shane Bond (PG 13; 3, 4)
@mohsin7827 - Howard Johnson (PG 46; 3, 4)
@Verified Enigma - Abdul Qadir (PG 1; 4, 6)
@Umair7 - James Franklin (PG 31; 5, 5)
@Aislabie - Paul Collingwood (PG 19; 5, 3)
@VC the slogger - Darren Lehmann (PG 54; 2, 1)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Haider Ali (PG 36; 1, 6)


Round 4

@Fenil - Craig McMillan (PG 57; 2, 4)
@pillowprocter - Grant Elliott (PG 28; 2, 3)
@Neo 7 - Brian Lara (PG 54; 1, 2)
@ddrap14 - Nikita Miller (PG 62; 4, 6)
@CerealKiller - Brad Hogg (PG 40; 4, 4)
@Ed Smith - Bob Massie (PG 61; 3, 1)
@ahmedleo414 - Arshad Ayub (PG 6; 4, 4)
@RUDI - Geoff Boycott (PG 14; 1, 2)
@Till Valhalla - Maheesh Theekshana (PG 100; 4, 2)
@Aravind. - Axar Patel (PG 75; 4, 4)
@mohsin7827 - Rashid Latif (PG 82; 6, 1)
@Verified Enigma - Mohammad Hafeez (PG 63; 2, 4)
@Umair7 - Vernon Philander (PG 77; 3, 2)
@Aislabie - Darron Reekers (PG 82; 5, 3)
@VC the slogger - Nehemiah Perry (PG 77; 4, 2)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Basit Ali (PG 10; 1, 6)


Round 5

@Fenil - Dwayne Bravo (PG 14; 5, 5)
@pillowprocter - Rehan Ahmed (PG 3; 4, 2)
@Neo 7 - Asif Khan (UAE) (PG 7; 1, 6)
@ddrap14 - Derek Randall (PG 82; 1, 3)
@CerealKiller - Scott Styris (PG 98; 5, 5)
@Ed Smith - Max O'Dowd (PG 73; 1, 1)
@ahmedleo414 - Fred Klaassen (PG 51; 3, 5)
@RUDI - Chris Mpofu (PG 67; 3, 3)
@Till Valhalla - Andrew Symonds (PG 99; 5, 2)
@Aravind. - Marlon Samuels (PG 88; 2, 6)
@mohsin7827 - Mushtaq Ahmed (PG 68; 4, 4)
@Verified Enigma - Pat Cummins (PG 21; 3, 6)
@Umair7 - Franklyn Dennis (PG 24; 1, 3)
@Aislabie - Rashid Khan (PG 82; 4, 3)
@VC the slogger - Wriddhiman Saha (PG 87; 6, 1)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Bruce French (PG 32; 6, 1)


Round 6

@Fenil - MS Dhoni (PG 25; 6, 3)
@pillowprocter - Rohit Sharma (PG 92; 1, 5)
@Neo 7 - Mark Vermeulen (PG 106; 1, 4)
@ddrap14 - Bhuvneshwar Kumar (PG 53; 3, 3)
@CerealKiller - Jos Buttler (PG 16; 6, 1)
@Ed Smith - Ryan ten Doeschate (PG 101; 5, 3)
@ahmedleo414 - AB de Villiers (PG 24; 2, 5)
@RUDI - Mark Greatbatch (PG 35; 1, 2)
@Till Valhalla - Craig McDermott (PG 57; 3, 4)
@Aravind. - Ravindra Jadeja (PG 44; 5, 3)
@mohsin7827 - Mike Veletta (PG 106; 1, 2)
@Verified Enigma - Andy Caddick (PG 16; 3, 5)
@Umair7 - Hasan Durham (PG 27; 4, 2)
@Aislabie - Kabir Khan (PG 48; 3, 3)
@VC the slogger - Sylvester Clarke (PG 19; 3, 5)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Chris Lewis (PG 55; 3, 3)


Round 7

@Fenil - Hayden Walsh jnr (PG 108; 4, 1)
@pillowprocter - Trent Boult (PG 14; 3, 1)
@Neo 7 - Madan Lal (PG 58; 3, 2)
@ddrap14 - Steve Rhodes (PG 84; 6, 1)
@CerealKiller - Neil Carter (PG 17; 3, 3)
@Ed Smith - Ben Shikongo (PG 93; 3, 2)
@ahmedleo414 - Carl Hooper (PG 41; 5, 5)
@RUDI - Michael Clarke (PG 19; 2, 3)
@Till Valhalla - Zubayr Hamza (PG 115; 1, 1)
@Aravind. - Stephen Fleming (PG 32; 1, 5)
@mohsin7827 - Gary Ballance (PG 9; 1, 6)
@Verified Enigma - Rob Bailey (PG 9; 1, 4)
@Umair7 - Gary Gilmour (PG 34; 3, 5)
@Aislabie - Kabir Ali (PG 4; 3, 3)
@VC the slogger - Andrew Flintoff (PG 31; 5, 3)
@Na Maloom Afraad - George Salmond (PG 88; 1, 1)


Round 8

@Fenil - Saqlain Mushtaq (PG 89; 4, 3)
@pillowprocter - David Warner (PG 108; 1, 6)
@Neo 7 - Mohammad Asif (PG 64; 3, 5)
@ddrap14 - Majid Khan (PG 59; 2, 5)
@CerealKiller - Murray Goodwin (PG 34; 1, 3)
@Ed Smith - Ian Harvey (PG 38; 5, 1)
@ahmedleo414 - Cheteshwar Pujara (PG 80; 1, 2)
@RUDI - Winston Davis (PG 23; 3, 3)
@Till Valhalla - Skhawat Ali (PG 95; 1, 1)
@Aravind. - Naseem Shah (PG 70; 3, 4)
@mohsin7827 - Rahul Dravid (PG 26; 2, 3)
@Verified Enigma - Richard Hadlee (PG 36; 5, 1)
@Umair7 - Javed Miandad (PG 45; 1, 4)
@Aislabie - Shoaib Akhtar (PG 93; 3, 3)
@VC the slogger - Hasan Raza (PG 38; 1, 4)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Pedro Collins (PG 20; 3, 3)


Round 9

@Fenil - Saleem Malik (PG 87; 2, 2)
@pillowprocter - Muttiah Muralitharan (PG 68; 4, 2)
@Neo 7 - Aasif Karim (PG 49; 4, 3)
@ddrap14 - Ian Chappell (PG 18; 2, 5)
@CerealKiller - George Munsey (PG 68; 1, 1)
@Ed Smith - Glenn Turner (PG 104; 1, 1)
@ahmedleo414 - Imran Farhat (PG 43; 1, 5)
@RUDI - Azhar Mahmood (PG 8; 5, 4)
@Till Valhalla - Navjot Sidhu (PG 94; 1, 2)
@Aravind. - Sidath Wettimuny (PG 110; 1, 3)
@mohsin7827 - Colin Croft (PG 21; 3, 3)
@Verified Enigma - Ravi Bopara (PG 13; 2, 4)
@Umair7 - Lou Vincent (PG 107; 1, 2)
@Aislabie - Michael Jones (PG 47; 1, 3)
@VC the slogger - Chris Gayle (PG 33; 2, 3)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Michael Bracewell (PG 14; 5, 4)


Round 10

@Fenil - Kane Williamson (PG 111; 2, 3)
@pillowprocter - Shaun Marsh (PG 60; 1, 4)
@Neo 7 - Rassie van der Dussen (PG 105; 1, 3)
@ddrap14 - Lance Cairns (PG 16; 3, 4)
@CerealKiller - Mark Richardson (PG 84; 1, 6)
@Ed Smith - Wanindu Hasaranga (PG 24; 4, 4)
@ahmedleo414 - Maurice Odumbe (PG 73; 5, 4)
@RUDI - Shaun Tait (PG 100; 3, 3)
@Till Valhalla - Kevin Curran (PG 21; 5, 5)
@Aravind. - Chris Jordan (PG 47; 3, 6)
@mohsin7827 - Waqar Younis (PG 108; 3, 3)
@Verified Enigma - Andrew Strauss (PG 98; 1, 3)
@Umair7 - Ian Blackwell (PG 12; 5, 3)
@Aislabie - Roy Fredericks (PG 32; 1, 3)
@VC the slogger - Garry Sobers (PG 96; 5, 4)
@Na Maloom Afraad - KL Rahul (PG 81; 2, 2)


Round 11

@Fenil - Mark Wood (PG 112; 3, 3)
@pillowprocter - Ramesh Mendis (PG 63; 4, 2)
@Neo 7 - Nicholas Pooran (PG 79; 6, 1)
@ddrap14 - Viv Richards (PG 84; 2, 1)
@CerealKiller - Mohammad Wasim jnr (PG 65; 3, 5)
@Ed Smith - Suryakumar Yadav (PG 112; 1, 6)
@ahmedleo414 - Colin de Grandhomme (PG 23; 5, 3)
@RUDI - Rilee Rossouw (PG 86; 1, 3)
@Till Valhalla - Imran Tahir (PG 43; 4, 4)
@Aravind. - Jaydev Unadkat (PG 104; 3, 6)
@mohsin7827 - Nathan Astle (PG 7; 2, 3)
@Verified Enigma - Deryck Murray (PG 68; 6, 3)
@Umair7 - Jofra Archer (PG 6; 3, 3)
@Aislabie - Harry Brook (PG 15; 1, 3)
@VC the slogger - Andre Russell (PG 86; 5, 1)
@Na Maloom Afraad - Clive Rice (PG 84; 5, 1)


Draft tournament

Venues & conditions

Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland - Evenly balanced/ Green
The Village, Malahide, Dublin, Republic of Ireland - Hard
VRA Cricket Ground, Amstelveen, Netherlands - Hard/ Dry/Slow
Hazelaarweg, Rotterdam, Netherlands - Dry/Slow
Grange Cricket Club (Raeburn Place), Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland - Flat
Mannofield Park, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland - Evenly balanced

Spoiler: An explainer on pitch types

Damp/Sticky - Massively in favor of bowlers and an absolute nightmare to bat on, unless you're Victor Trumper.
Dusty - Plenty of turn on offer for spinners and a good place to bat for spin-savvy batsmen. Good pace bowlers are still likely to thrive.
Evenly balanced - Provides an evenly balanced contest for all disciplines.
Flat - A batsman-friendly pitch which provides little or no assistance to bowlers. Expect big totals.
Green - A lot of movement on offer early on, which makes it ideal for bowlers capable of swinging the ball. Batting expected to become easier as the match progresses.
Hard - Ideal conditions for batting. Good deal of bounce on offer for fast bowlers as well. Could go either way
Dry/Slow - Ideal for slow and spin bowlers as the name suggests. Sometimes quite difficult to bat on.
Poor - Uneven bounce and a huge amount of turn on offer for spinners. Expect a slow hard grind where most batsmen rarely score at above 2 an over.

FIXTURES

Round of 16

Match 1 - Fenil's XI v Ed Smith's XI at Malahide - Fenil's XI won by 6 wickets (with 25 balls remaining)
Match 2 - Neo 7's XI v VC's XI at Malahide - Neo 7's XI won by 8 wickets (with 45 balls remaining)
Match 3 - RUDI's XI v Till Valhalla's XI at Stormont - RUDI's XI won by 10 runs
Match 4 - ddrap14's XI v Umair7's XI at Stormont - ddrap14's XI won by 88 runs
Match 5 - Verified Enigma's XI v Aislabie's XI at Aberdeen - Aislabie's XI won by 2 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
Match 6 - mohsin7827's XI v CerealKiller's XI at Edinburgh - CerealKiller's XI won by 67 runs
Match 7 - pillowprocter's XI v NMA's XI at Rotterdam - NMA's XI won by 7 wickets (with 32 balls remaining)
Match 8 - Aravind's XI v ahmedleo414's XI at Amstelveen - Aravind's XI won by 3 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)


Quarter-finals

Fenil's XI v Neo 7's XI at Stormont - Fenil's XI won by 45 runs
RUDI's XI v ddrap14's XI at Malahide - ddrap14's XI won by 5 wickets (with 12 balls remaining)
Aislabie's XI v CerealKiller's XI at Edinburgh - CerealKiller's XI won by 1 wicket (with 0 balls remaining)
NMA's XI v Aravind's XI at Amstelveen - Aravind's XI won by 33 runs


Semi-finals

Fenil's XI v ddrap14's XI at Edinburgh - ddrap14's XI won by 5 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)
CerealKiller's XI v Aravind's XI at Amstelveen - Aravind's XI won by 5 wickets (with 24 balls remaining)


3rd place aka Bronze playoff

Fenil's XI v CerealKiller's XI at Stormont - Fenil's XI won by 75 runs


Final

ddrap14's XI v Aravind's XI at Malahide - ddrap14's XI won by 68 runs


Time to bleed..

 

[Fenil]

I'm in

 

[pillowprocter]

In

 

[Neo 7]

Yeppp in ...

 

[ddrap14]

In #trendsetting

 

[CerealKiller]

In

 

[Ed Smith]

In

 

[ahmedleo414]

In

 

[RUDI]

In

 

[Till Valhalla]

In

 

[Aravind.]

IN

 

[mohsin7827]

In

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

In

 

[Umair7]

In

 

[Aislabie]

In please